The special edition of International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH)issue contains a number of original papers, ranging from Australia to Denmark, that look at construction health and safety in a global context. "Building Safety - an International Perspective", by Fiona Murie, Health and Safety Director at the Building and Woodworkers International, examines hazards and trade union initiatives to prevent injuries and ill health. Other papers cover such topics as ergonomic problems and tools to address, injuries, health risks including cancer, regulatory systems and good and bad practice.

How such vulnerable workers can and do organise to raise health and safety standards is discussed and a poignant account is provided of UK construction workers killed on building sites and how their families and friends campaigned to obtain justice and remove dangerous working conditions.

Construction of homes, public utilities and workplaces may all contribute to public health. However, the disproportionate human and economic cost of poor health and safety in the construction industry that is borne by construction workers, their families and their communities is also a major drain on global public health resources.

Construction workers in many parts of the world are some of the most vulnerable, and least legally well protected of all employees. Too often, they are marginalized through sub-contract and no contract work. Construction workers are also very vulnerable in terms of poor occupational health standards and practices even in relatively prosperous European countries. Migrant construction workers may be subject to exploitation in terms of low wages, weak health and safety standards, social and physical isolation, poor health linked to poor accommodation, food and exposure to drugs and infectious diseases.

The special edition has been compiled by the University of Stirling's Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Research Group.

To download the two articles related to construction, click on the title

"Building Safety - An International Perspective" by Fiona Murie

"Cancer and Construction"

Related information